South Africans vote in municipal election

South Africans vote in municipal election
Funke Atohengbe, Pretoria

South Africans are voting today, Wednesday to elect representatives at the local government level.

The election is seen as a key test for the ruling African National Congress which has faced criticism and riots over poor service delivery.

More than twenty three million registered voters are expected to cast their ballots in the most closely contested election since the transition to democracy in 1994.

President Jacob Zuma had expressed satisfaction with the arrangements made by the Independent Electoral Commission to conduct a hitch free election.

Zuma visited the Commission’s Results Operation Centre in Pretoria late on Tuesday and said he was impressed by the level of technology used to capture results.

Mandela voted ahead

Former South African President, Nelson Mandela who is 92years old, cast his vote at his home in Houghton on Monday because of his frailty.

The Independent Electoral Commission said over two hundred and forty thousand people applied for special voting on Monday at polling stations and different institutions across the country.

Analysts expect the African National Congress, which received 64.8 percent of the vote in the last municipal elections, to maintain its majority in most municipalities with the whites-dominated Democratic Alliance tipped to win some wards in predominantly black areas.

About seventy five thousand policemen have been deployed across the country especially in hotspot provinces to ensure a hitch free poll.

Ekata